Monday, October 16, 2006

Riverside Plaza

Riverside, California - 1950's

Riverside Plaza (another beauty of a sign there!) began its illustrious retail life as an outdoor shopping center when it first opened in 1955, then was enclosed (shopping mall time) during a renovation in the 1980s, until recently becoming an open-air plaza once again, after a series of ongoing, major renovations and redevelopments (the aerial below looks like it caught them right in the middle of the work).

Yes, now it's a [yawn] sprawling village-like, not-a-shopping-mall, community shopping/working/living center area thingamabob whatchamacallit. You know, like all the other old shopping malls are becoming. But I'm not bitter.

Yes, now it's a [yawn] sprawling village-like, not-a-shopping-mall, community shopping-working-living center area thingamabob whatchamacallit. You know, like all the other old shopping malls are becoming. But I'm not bitter.

Oh go let it out! I feel the same way you are. They just want to make people brave the 'elements' the next time they bother visiting those subdivisions of commerce. It's just like going anywhere else.

Okay, I'm as nostalgic for "Malls" as the rest of you. But if a venue no longer works, then I'd rather see it turned into something that will make it a lively and viable retail center again. And frankly, it looks like they've done it here.

You all forget that some of the earliest shopping centers were "auto-centric" in nature by way of being a "strip" format, or a "main street". And if the original Riverside Plaza format was like it is today, you'd all be praising it for maintaining its original concept.

Or would you rather have an indoor mall that is 30% occupied but still looks like a place that Marcia and Jan Brady would go to buy "groovy" school clothes?

This Gottschalks still has a sense of nostalga in it in some places. The Elevators still had the origional late 50's controls, but were sadly in the process of being modernized. However, the decor on the first floor elevator lobby and elevator cars still have an elegant late 50s feel to it. The stairway to the basement still exists, but it is for employees only.